Freshman Orientation, 2012

Today is a day! It might even be the day. The greatest day in all of hip hop, even. The one in which XXL Magazine and Diet Mountain Dew announce their esteemed annual Freshman cover, highlighting some of the best and brightest rising rap talents. Their selection is as diverse as its ever been this year, too, featuring wide variety of rappers from the ones who are presently signed to Interscope to those who are about to announce their signing to Interscope.

Make no mistake, the XXL Freshmen isn’t about forecasting, or even recommendations. It’s about creating an argument and using that argument to remind us that XXL does still exist. Yes, this post only helps to perpetuate that cycle but whatever, it’s also a good excuse to analyze the careers of a few buzzed about rappers. And several “buzzed about” rappers. Hit the jump for the report cards.

FutureBio: A walking can of Axe Body Spray.Hometown:Atlanta, GALabel: EpicPast Year’s Parallel: Gorilla Zoe# of Twitter followers: 117,735Highest Charting Single: “Tony Montana” (#22 R&B/Hip Hop)Skills: 6/10 Having trained under the esteemed Dungeon Family crest, Future can actually rap pretty well when he wants to, but that’s besides the point because he’s on some other other shit and is rarely interested in rapping well. Or at all – he’s said that rapping will comprise just 25% of his forthcoming Pluto. The rest will be autotuned spit gurgles. (This whole “skills” category is seeming a irrelevant at this point. Half of the artists on this list are basically mutant R&B singers who rap on the side and the rest are hyper technical showboats who “can rap” but do so in the most hollow sense.)Creativity: 8/10 Autouned spit gurgles are fucking awesome!Marketability: 8/10 Autotuned spit gurgles are fucking catchy!Sustainability: 4/10 Autotuned spit gurgles get boring quickly!

Kid InkBio: All of the worst traits of Tyga and Roscoe Dash combined, and then folded into Chris Brown’s body.Hometown: Los Angeles, CALabel: None? Though I’m going to assume he’s just secretly signed – in LA they pass record contracts to parents while their children are still in the womb.Past Year’s Parallel: Donnis# of Twitter followers: 139,228Highest Charting Single: N/ASkills: 5/10 When not singing aimlessly, he’s a half decent rapper in that sort of limbless post-Drake style.Creativity: 1/10 Dude is a creative flatline. There isn’t a single original idea present in his catalog. He probably needs someone else to pick menu items for him at Denny’s.Marketability: 6/10 Being completely unremarkable can be an asset in today’s complex music marketplace. He’s a blank canvas for the right cosigns and the kewlest sneakers.Sustainability: 2/10 Best case scenario: he will sell 80k first week out and then everyone on earth will immediately forget he exists.

Danny BrownBio: A haircut that you may have read about on a blog.Hometown: Detroit, MILabel: Fool’s GoldPast Year’s Parallel: Lil B# of Twitter followers: 23,422Highest Charting Single: N/ASkills: 7/10 Danny knows how to rap.Creativity: 9/10 First rapper to make a song about stealing copper.Marketability: 3/10 Dude is far too sonically abrasive to crossover and probably smart enough to not try. Hipsters like him, but that audience tends to maintain a pretty low investment level when it comes to rappers. (It’s pretty telling that the bald guy’s video album review of XXX has twice as many Youtube hits as any actual Danny Brown music video.)Sustainability: 7/10 Danny makes smart and emotive album oriented projects. While this is not necessarily the best method for gaining fans it’s a pretty surefire way to make sure the ones you already have are going to stick around.

Machine Gun KellyBio: Like Yelawolf, but with none of the nuance or taste.Hometown: Cleveland, OHLabel: Bad Boy(lol)/InterscopePast Year’s Parallel: Yelawolf# of Twitter followers: 274,968Highest Charting Single: “Wild Boy” f/ Waka Flocka Flame (#98 Hot 100; #54 R&B/Hip Hop)Skills: 4/10 I mean, I guess he can rap…Creativity: 2/10 He seems like the type of guy who could swiftly create a meth lab, though he hasn’t yet figured out how to translate those talents to music.Marketability: 8/10 He is white.Sustainability: 7/10 He will still be white tomorrow.

French MontanaBio: Max B’s Second Life avatar.Hometown: New York, NYLabel: Bad Boy/InterscopePast Year’s Parallel: Wiz Khalifa? Idk.# of Twitter followers: 241,981Highest Charting Single: “Shot Caller” (#124 Hot 100; #39 R&B/Hip Hop)Skills: 3/10 French is a pretty sloppy rapper, if self consciously so.Creativity: 7/10 He possesses a natural hook writing ability and an impeccable ear for beats.Marketability: 7/10 His inherent goofiness will probably prevent him from breaking out as a national solo star but he could easily become the dominant hook singer of the moment ala T-Pain or Nate Dogg if he keeps knocking out cameos like “Stay Schemin” and “Everything That Glitters.”Sustainability: 6/10 If that doesn’t work out he can forever live out his days on Koch, earning charity spins off The Funk Flex Red Cafe Mixhour.

Don TripBio: The only traditional street rapper on this list. Or maybe the planet.Hometown: Memphis, TNLabel: Interscope/EpidemicPast Year’s Parallel: Meek Mill# of Twitter followers: 51,047Highest Charting Single: “Letter To My Son” (#98 R&B/Hip Hop)Skills: 7/10 Neck and neck with Danny Brown as the best pure rapper on this list.Creativity: 7/10 Don doesn’t flaunt it, but he’s an incredibly creative rapper with a knack for smart, subtle storytelling.Marketability: 4/10 For all his talents, there doesn’t seem to be much of a lane in popular music for a rapper like Don Trip at the moment. He’s an old guard anomaly and he sticks out like the good kind of sore thumb in this list full of half retards and white retards. It seems unlikely he that would’ve even made the cut if it weren’t for the Interscope connection.Sustainability: 7/10 Whatever happens nationally, dude should be golden forever in Memphis.

Iggy AzaleaBio: A tall jar of Vegemite.Hometown: A kangaroo’s pouch, AustraliaLabel: InterscopePast Year’s Parallel: Prior to Iggy, XXL had never featured a female or an internationally born rapper on a Freshmen list. She is Jackie Robinson.# of Twitter followers: 44,567Highest Charting Single: N/ASkills: 4/10 I mean, I guess she can rap but her delivery is forced and rehearsed to the point of being grating. It’s like skinny elbows flailing. It’s a solid rhythmic performance, she’s obviously studied better rappers and mimicked them to some success but she does it so mechanically that it’s hard to listen to. She’s like one of those kids who spends months learning specific Twista verses on Youtube. In fact I bet you could trace many of her flows directly to other existing rap verses, the weird Kendrick tribute above being the most obvious example. In short, she lacks soul. Because she is white.Creativity: 1/10 At best she’s a biter, at worst she’s a puppet.Marketability: 7/10 She is white. And pretty. But there’s a certain runway model coldness to her persona that might be off-putting to a mainstream audience. Her posture frightens me.Sustainability: 5/10 White girls don’t usually age well.

MacklemoreBio: A young white male.Hometown: Seattle, WALabel: Macklemore (!?)Past Year’s Parallel: Mac Miller# of Twitter followers: 44,178Highest Charting Single: N/ASkills: 6/10 There’s not a lot of heavy lifting going on in his raps but he’s less likely to pull a muscle that way.Creativity: 6/10 He’s an idea driven rapper, that’s for sure. Think Slug from Atmosphere (the second most influential white rapper of all time), if he rapped about societal issues instead of sad girls. But with the exact same intensity. Every Youtube of his I watched was cloying serious, tracks about the dangers of syrup abuse, the plight of sneaker capitalism, Irish pride, his hometown rap scene. It’s nice that he has ideas and messages but it’d be nicer if he wasn’t quite so blunt with them. Ultimately though this sort of muted, statement oriented blue collar rap is obviously preferable to MGK’s energy drink music but it’s not for me, you or either of XXL’s regular readers. (I don’t know what the fuck this is but I’m just going to pretend I didn’t click on it.)Marketability: 6/10 He is white but he is also very serious. That could work to his advantage if he goes full Kid Rock and starts making soundtracks for commercials that prominently feature billowing American flags. Or it could just turn party minded young people off completely.Sustainability: 9/10 He is white and he is very serious. Whatever YTs he does manage to win over will follow him to his grave.

HopsinBio: Like Tyler, The Creator, but with none of the nuance or taste. And with an added try-hard Tech N9ne edge on his flow.Hometown: Los Angeles, LALabel: Funk VolumePast Year’s Parallel: Cory Gunz# of Twitter followers: 74,133Highest Charting Single: N/ASkills: 6/10 I mean, I guess he can rap…Creativity: 4/10 Much of Hopsin’s recent success is tied to him positioning himself as a rival and formal alternative to Odd Future. (In fact, I almost feel like his inclusion here is at least partially a response to Tyler turning down last year’s cover.) This is how twisted the rap underground has become – there is now a market for alternatives to the alternative rappers. Anyway, both acts are heavily indebted to Eminem’s style, in terms of both cadence and humor, but they diverge pretty drastically from there. Where OF loosened the flows up and added a layer of absurdism to his referential humor to reflect the Lil B/Adult Swim generation. Hopsin just tightens everything Em did and turns the jokes (which, let’s be real, were never that funny to begin with) self serious. His shit is really grating and over-perfomative in a drama club sense too. If you’re gonna borrow at least do it with a smile and some swag.Marketability: 3/10 I don’t see his audience extending much further than Juggalos and that handful of kids who think they’re too cool to sit at the Odd Future table but are still interested in cutting themselves.Sustainability: 8/10 The Juggalos are a loyal people.

Roscoe DashBio: A singing mohawk with a chain wallet.Hometown: Atlanta, GALabel: Interscope (hmm…)Past Year’s Parallel: YG# of Twitter followers: 206,931Highest Charting Single: “No Hands” w/ Waka Flocka & Wale (#13 Hot 100 / #2 R&B/Hip Hop)Skills: 7/10 I’ve written about this before but Roscoe absolutely does not get enough credit for his rapping ability. He can effortlessly snap out of his whiney sing song into a very tight double time flow. And, most importantly, he does it in a fluid and engaging manner that a lot of these Hospins and Iggys have almost zero grasp on. He rounds the edges off fast rap. That’s why he’s on the radio and they are inside of the Youtube.Creativity: 4/10 Ehh… he’s got a nice style but his songs tend not to be about anything at all.Marketability: 9/10 The go-to XXL safety choice. Between “All The Way Turnt Up” and the dominant “No Hands,” Roscoe is going on his third year as an established hit maker.Sustainability: 7/10 He’s lasted this long, right?

Most of these criticisms are spot on and/or deserved. I don’t understand how some people who’ve been “about to blow” for over half a decade can be “freshmen”. I mean, French Montana has been a weed carrier for rappers in more time than some of these freshmen have even been rapping.

Also, funny how Interscope is essentially half this list. The XXL/Interscope Father/Daughter dance has more or less been an obvious situation, but it’s interesting that only one other OFFICIAL major label’s artist could even make it in the ranks.

Did they really need 3 white rappers? Macklemore soft as shit, MGK is a fucking clown and the only reason I don’t completely hate Iggy Azaelia is cuz I jerk off to her music videos. If they really needed more pale they just shoulda had Bronson on it.

haha, well done. this is always one of the most entertaining CB posts each year. i love how even danny brown and french montana get backhanded compliments.

so i guess don trip wins as the least offensive to noz? his write-up here is the only one without criticism or backhanded compliments. based on his last few tapes i am ok with that (haven’t heard all of ‘guerrilla’ yet but i assume it’s solid overall)

Up until now I thought the number of Twitter followers a rapper has was a pretty good indicator of his/her popularity, but Danny Brown has the smallest number on this list and I can’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing his name, so Idk…

I don’t really know who most of these people are and neither will anyone else in a year, but “Tony Montana” continues to be my jam.

“i love how even danny brown and french montana get backhanded compliments.”

That definitely wasn’t my intent – those are my two favorite rappers on this list. I’m just trying to make as realistic of an assessment as possible. And jokes.

“you should write more on here/tumblinerb about stuff you don’t like. ”

Eh, I prefer to get it out of my system once or twice a year. The stuff I like is a lot better than the stuff I don’t like.

“Up until now I thought the number of Twitter followers a rapper has was a pretty good indicator of his/her popularity, but Danny Brown has the smallest number on this list and I can’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing his name, so Idk…”

You might be looking at the wrong internet. I never see Danny on Worldstar.

Wow. There is a reason you can be so abrasive (I say that with love) and still so highly respected/Fader-ed/Complex-ed/NPR-ed/Wire-ed/ et. al. and respected by many of the rappers you do profiles with. Hilarious and on point pretty much everywhere. Bravo.

i thought there would be more white people on this list but i suppose not. it is very funny that its an interscope ran list. anyway, these lists i never care for……….just for your commentary on them cause its usually funny.

Future is really good imo. His first few tapes were a mixed bag (though the good songs were great), but Streetz is Calling and Astronaut Status have some great work on them. Not to mention the excellent Free Bricks. What’s interesting about his style is how free form it is, he’ll switch up from sloppy autotune to a pretty meticulous cadence, back and forth, off beat and on, etc. His “Stevie Wonder” verse is a good example. Plus he works with Zaytoven a lot and they have great chemistry.

Danny Brown is the only rapper I can get down with in the whole class. I respect Macklemore’s grind, but it’s not my steeze. The rest were just “eh”. I agree with almost all of this article, though. Nice job.

This Interscope thing is a joke. I can’t believe they didn’t get A$AP Rocky… And if the rumors about him turning it down are true he’s stupid. He’s built for XXL ten, the A$AP crew has got a shelf life, it won’t last. I give him 2 more releases and he’ll be forgotten, and this list is made for rappers like that. Should have thrown the kid from community as well let’s be honest he deserved it. The hipster demographic is still a rap audience I guess… The Hopsin thing blew my mind I had no idea he was buzzing enough for this years crew! Fuck his last tour he was opening for MGK… Either way here’s my predictions.

MGK’s album drops within two months and it’s awful. Get’s dropped from bad boy before 2013 and is never heard from again.

Danny Brown puts out another independent-ish album and his fans love it. No one else hears it.

Hopsin’s already done. He had his youtube video’s, maybe he’ll do a feature or two on some west coast rapper trying to relive his glory days (snoop, game, dre, cube, ect.)

Kid Ink will make a catchy song on a Lex Luger style beat and won’t get the green light for an album for another year. He already is so good at popping up on random tracks for a quick, forgettable 16 and going back into hiding he should just keep that up.

French Montana fucked up by signing to Bad Boy (He could have had Bricksquad OR MMG but nooo,!! he’s got to be the center of attention!) so hopefully he just keeps making sweet mixtapes with trap artists. Lockout and Cocaine Mafia were awesome.

What the fuck is Roscoe Dash even doing on here? He could have been on this list like 3 years ago. He’s like Soulja Boy… he amazes me every time I find out he has another song on the radio. I hope he keeps on coming with the catchy hooks and dope features, but damn XXL this guy is not a freshmen by any means.

Maklemore will stay on the blogs with the rap nerds who worship 36 chambers and jack off to pictures of atmosphere.

What’s that girls name? Actually who cares. I doubt I’ll ever hear anything from her again. I don’t completely understand how they do rap overseas but maybe she’ll be relevant there.

Don Trip is talented no doubt. Watch him put out the best free album in hip hop next year, and a shitty major label release the year after that.

Future is one of my favorites… People like new things (or in this case, 3 year old things that everyone is afraid to use thanks to T-pains drop in popularity) but hes already all over the radio, so I can see him making some waves this year.

Future has a ton of innate talent, and I’m glad he’s gotten credit for genuine rapping ability. I’m a bit concerned about Pluto, given that I prefer 1000 and his earlier sound to his very recent stuff. Hoping there’s a few Sonny Digital tracks on Pluto.

“These rappers don’t want my head, they’d rather cut off my legs [Why?] / ‘Cause I run the city, from Toyko to the Feds / I done lost my damn mind, I’m bout to cut off my dreads / Got big head Benjamins, and I walk with the living dead”

I don’t know. It didn’t seem to hurt Drake, Nicki or Tyler, all of whom did the same. I think artists and management are starting to question whether or not the value of being able to claim “XXL FRESHMAN!” on your press release is enough to compensate for the shame of having your photo wedged between Diggy Simmons and Lil Twist on every newsstand for a month.

FuckBrendan, you might be the biggest pussy I have ever seen talk openly on the interweb.Most of your predictions are either off-target and every comment about your personal taste of the music is just dick riding that of Noz’s. Be yourself bra, its only self respect.

PS. You’re not funny

I always thought the goal of these lists were to make predictions about who would blow up. Future and French Montana are the only ones with the possibility of producing semi-hit singles. Maybe Machine Gun Kelly does too since Diddy is a good mentor I think

am i the only one who thinks the bit on hopsin was a bit strong? if hopsin rapped about something else besides getting shafted by the mainstream and rappers that he should be more successful than, i think hed be pretty dope. also, i think its a bit of a stretch to say that tyler, the creator has more “nuance and taste” than hopsin. not too sure if the term “nuance and taste” should be applied to either of them, really.

Not nuance and taste in the sense that I would bring either of them home for dinner but I think a big part of Tyler’s appeal lies in his ability to carve out a pretty refined and distinctive aesthetic, both in terms of sonics and presentation. And there’s some degree of intelligence buried under his schtick. Hopsin has no interest in such things, he’s just some guy rapping like eminem over a jedi mind tricks beat tape.

“I always thought the goal of these lists were to make predictions about who would blow up. Future and French Montana are the only ones with the possibility of producing semi-hit singles. Maybe Machine Gun Kelly does too since Diddy is a good mentor I think”

Seriously though his features on the last Gucci tape are both stellar. His ‘Brick Fare’ verse has some really tightly wound elastic cadences, and his ‘Sometimes’ verse has that kind of inexact rhyming couple thing that reminds me of Prodigy.

[...] week, hoarse-voiced rapper Don Trip was amongst those named to 2012’s XXL Freshman List. As Noz articulated, we’re not really sure what to make of the XXL list at this juncture of its life. Further, the [...]

lol yet again Noz proves that he wants to be down and get net props for supporting the BULLISHIT!!!, you are just a sellout Noz, Cocaine Blunts used to be dope and you turned it into shit, you don’t even know what Hip Hip is anymore…so sad.

noz I had a dream in which I met you and I asked you “Have you been working out?” and you replied “Yeah, I have”. You had really big muscles in my dream. Over them you wore a white-ish turtleneck sweater. We also discussed music some

this list is terrible. the only person worth a god damn on the whole cover is Danny Brown. Macklemore is only kinda interesting because as a drug addict i can fully relate to getting old and watching addiction destroy everything around you. the only problem is, the guy is just too blunt with the way he is going about it. the other problem is because he actually has something to say 90% of XXL readers will immediately shut down as soon as they hear anything denouncing partying and doing drugs. but i gotta be honest i’m tired of hearing tracks about purple drank. in all seriousness its a really weak high and something that really is only fun if you have lots of it and other expensive drugs to compliment it. god, we live in a stupid time for hip-hop.

-Future: the black dude who way too eagerly hits on white girls in the mall and gets laughed at as soon as he leaves
-Kid Ink: straight up, who is this?
-Danny Brown: great rapper, been around far too long to be a “freshman,” and though the haircut has worked from a publicity angle, he literally looks like a gay crackhead here
-Roscoe Dash: gay cokehead? also clearly not a freshman.
-French Montana: has been in the game for at least 5 years, has appeared on 10,000+ songs and has displayed talent on about 10 of those. also, while i applaud the bear coat, he’s swaggerjacking Workaholics
-Macklemore: looks like a 35 year old dude who works at Starbucks and makes all the teenage girls who work there uncomfortable
-Machine Gun Kelly: so sick of this 12 year old who’s mad at his parents for not letting him go see some shitty concert. he sucks at all facets of music also.
-Don Trip: looks like he might legitimately rob you. not sure if this is a plus or minus in today’s market, but undeniably one of the more talented people on this list
-Hopsin: large ball of corn
-Iggy Azalea: white female with nice bum.

the only reason i bought this XXL mag is for the bun b interview. too bad it was only 1 page long… if that.

i do have a question for noz…
why does everyone hate on MGK and act like yelawolf is the next coming?!?

i get the fact that MGK is childish and stuck on trying to spit as many words as he can in a second, but i honestly think he has far more potential. to give him 4/10 on skill is straight up garbage. he’s not creative… yet… but he can definitely spit rhymes better than most.

Ok I know this is late but heres my ideas.
1) Why the fuck are you judging macklemore so badly?
congrats, you heard otherside. have you ever tried listening
to any of his other music? As a kid from Seattle, I have. Listen
to the album Language of My World it has some dope tracks
on it that has meaning unlike other rappers.
2) Hopsin is actually filthy. Hes one of my favorite rappers and
has bars. Him and SwizZz together are dope af. Lucifer Effect and
How You Like Me Now are tight tracks. “I shit on niggas thats why I rap
with a diaper on” “Thats why im goin off like Michael Jacksons nose”
“Im bout to leave the building right now abudee abudee thats all folks”
those are all sick bars. Quit hating and listen to their real music.

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[...] 2. Freshman Orientation, 2012. Noz grades the frosh. For example, on Kid Ink: “Creativity 1/10. Dude is a creative flatline. There isn’t a single original idea present in his catalog. He probably needs someone else to pick menu items for him at Denny’s.” BUT: “Marketability 6/10. Being completely unremarkable can be an asset in today’s complex music marketplace. He’s a blank canvas for the right cosigns and the kewlest sneakers.” This is awesome news, Kid Ink. [Cocaine Blunts] [...]